] NAJAF, Iraq, April 2 - Hundreds of American troops
] marched into town at midday today and were greeted by its
] residents.
]
] The infantry was backed by attack helicopters and
] bombers, and immediately destroyed several arms caches
] and took over a military training facility to serve as
] their headquarters.
]
] The occupying forces, from the First and Second brigades
] of the 101st Airborne Division, entered from the south
] and north. They had seized the perimeter of town on
] Tuesday.
]
] People rushed to greet them today, crying out repeatedly,
] "Thank you, this is beautiful!"
]
] Two questions dominated a crowd that gathered outside a
] former ammunition center for the Baath Party. "Will you
] stay?" asked Kase, a civil engineer who would not give
] his last name. Another man, Heider, said, "Can you tell
] me what time Saddam is finished?"

Some interesting quotes in this article.

Cheers and Smiles for U.S. Troops in a Captured City

] IF THERE IS ANYTHING that can be said to be "enjoyable"
] about this war, it must surely be the delights of the
] CENTCOM 7:00 a.m. press briefings. Handled mostly by the
] able Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, they shed little
] light on the actual progress of the war, but give a clear
] look into the minds of the press.
]
] Surprisingly, the questions from the American press have
] been quite good. Reporters from U.S. news outlets
] typically ask factual questions, such as how many men are
] in the Fedayeen or where Iraqi chem suits were
] manufactured.
]
] The foreign press seem less interested in facts and more
] interested in, well, see for yourself:

Foreign Correspondents

] The low-fat, high-bandwidth solution to your networked
] cooking needs is finally here. The George Foreman USB
] iGrill conveniently connects to your home or office PC
] using USB 2.0 technology, and provides a sophisticated
] web-based cooking interface.

sweet.

ThinkGeek :: George Foreman USB iGrill

] The previous Meat Meat Meat! section contained, I
] believed, the finest examples of hideously glistening
] meatage I'd ever seen.
]
] I was wrong. Thanks to patron Jody, we now have this rare
] volume from the fabled Family Circle collection. Steady
] your gorge; this is going to be a rough one.

MEAT! MEAT! MEAT! part 2.
Hooray!

LILEKS (James) : Gallery of Regrettable Food : MEAT!

] Attention, all families and friends preparing to send
] "care packages" to U.S. soldiers: Not all gifts are
] created equal on the Arabian Peninsula.
]
] Powered-drink mixes, beef jerky, pretzels and chewing gum
] are fine, say the veterans at
] http://www.West-Point.org.Chocolate will melt.
] Flyswatters, footballs, lip balm, sunblock lotion, foot
] powder and other logical items will be appreciated.
]
] Do not send pork or tobacco. Do not send religious
] materials. And do not send pornography. In other words,
] send nothing that will bring grief -- or danger -- to
] soldiers in the lands surrounding Mecca.
]
] Thus, scores of religious leaders got upset when they
] heard about a DirectLink Media Group offer to send
] pornographic videotapes and DVDs to U.S. soldiers and
] veterans anywhere, with the soldiers paying shipping and
] handling charges.

Awwww.

A war of words over sending pornography to troops

] Despite all their vaunted technology, and months of
] prewar planning, they've looked disorganized and
] unimpressive since the actual fighting started. They seem
] bewildered, behind the curve, and slow to respond to
] unanticipated developments, too smug about their superior
] performance in Gulf War I to take the challenges of this
] one seriously. It's beginning to look as if they've been
] sucker-punched by an old foe who's thought several moves
] ahead.
]
]
] Yes, the television networks have done a thoroughly
] unimpressive job of covering the war. And it's
] surprising. After all, cable television covered the first
] Gulf War pretty well, and now they have the benefits of
] drastically advanced communications technology, allowing
] embedded reporters to send back reports from wherever
] they are, live and almost unedited.
]
]
] And that's a lot of the problem. The "embedding" program
] has been a stroke of genius for the Pentagon, but it's
] been a disaster for the networks. The embedded
] journalists have come to identify with their units, and
] have formed a bond with American soldiers and Marines
] that will likely last a lifetime and fundamentally alter
] the character of the press in terms of its relations with
] the military. And - because they're embedded with units
] and traveling with ordinary soldiers - they're sending
] back a soldier's-eye-view of the war, which the networks
] feel they have to air because of its immediacy, and because
] they've invested so much in the technology that makes such
] reportage possible.

TCS: Tech - Losing the War on the Air

] Computer screens of the future could offer sound as well
] as vision, eliminating the need for separate loud
] speakers.
]
] A British company called NXT has found a way to turn a
] computer display into a speaker, without interfering with
] the quality of the picture.

BBC NEWS | Technology | PC screen turns into speaker

] When we finally made it to Safwan, Iraq, what we saw was
] utter chaos. Iraqi men, women and children were playing
] it up for the TV cameras, chanting: "With our blood,
] with our souls, we will die for you Saddam."
]
] I took a young Iraqi man, 19, away from the cameras and
] asked him why they were all chanting that particular
] slogan, especially when humanitarian aid trucks marked
] with the insignia of the Kuwaiti Red Crescent Society,
] were distributing some much-needed food.
]
] His answer shouldn't have surprised me, but it did.
]
] He said: "There are people from Baath here reporting
] everything that goes on. There are cameras here recording
] our faces. If the Americans were to withdraw and
] everything were to return to the way it was before, we
] want to make sure that we survive the massacre that would
] follow as Baath go house to house killing anyone who
] voiced opposition to Saddam. In public, we always pledge
] our allegiance to Saddam, but in our hearts we feel
] something else."
]
] Different versions of that very quote, but with a common
] theme, I would come to hear several times over the next
] three days I spent in Iraq.
]
] The people of Iraq are terrified of Saddam Hussein.

Interesting to see something like this on an Arab news site.

ArabNews: Exclusive: %u2018Terrified of Saddam Hussein%u2019

] Modern day brewers are constantly pushing or, rather,
] creating anew the boundaries of brewing, often times
] brewing beers that defy mainstream beer styles and/or
] looking at other alcoholic beverages for inspiration.
] Strong beers are just one of the many byproducts of this
] highly creative and artisanal approach to brewing. They
] span from beers that are more like premium liquors to an
] exaggeration of style to something completely new and off
] the map. Price-wise, you can expect anything from under
] $10 for a small bottle to literally hundreds of dollars
] for some presented in elaborate vessels.
]
]
] The processes involved to create such beers aren't simple
] either. Brewers spend a lot of research time, money and
] trial and error to cultivate their super yeast strains
] that can survive the high-alcohol brewing environment and
] produce well-attenuated beers. They are often designed
] with the idea that they'll be aged for many years, like
] wine, but often treated as a port, scotch, brandy, etc.,
] and poured into snifter-style glassware

World's Strongest Beers | Beer Article [ BeerAdvocate.com ]

Various statistics from the war.

IRAQ-O-METER